Each spring, inside Narragansett Bay, in Rhode Island, the menhaden or pogy's, as they are known locally, migrate into our bay system and move into the smaller bays and rivers that make up Narragansett Bay itself. During some years the numbers of these oily baitfish can be huge and in other years they can be hard to find. Finding them however, and using them as bait to fool some of the monster sized stripers that follow them into the bay can be worth the effort you put in to capture them.

The best time to find menhaden is very early in the morning before the sun rises and the boat traffic gets too heavy. Pogy's don't like a lot of boat traffic and will sound or go deeper down in the water column to escape the noise and vibration that boats cause as they leave a cove, harbor or river system.  Unless they are being chased by fish from beneath that will cause them to circle tightly into a ball, you will only see them "flip" here and there. Once you see one, that is a sure indication that there is many more below the surface.

There are two ways to get your bait. One is to use a cast-net. A cast net is made of monofiliment and comes in a wide array of sizes from four feet in diameter to over 12-feet. The large you go in size, the harder it is to make a good and accurate cast with them. It takes quite a bit of practice to become proficient with a cast net. Cast nets are also better when the water is shallow, that being ten feet or less. The deeper the water is the more time it will take for the net to reach the bottom and encircle the pogy's inside the net.

The second method is the most popular one. It involves the use of a weighted treble hook in sizes 6/0 to 9/0. The hook shank will usually have a molded on lead weight to give you casting distance to reach the schools on the surface or below. A better method is to make your own "snag rig" by attaching a one to three ounce sinker at the bottom of a leader, then by tying two dropper-loop-knots up the leader at six to eight inch intervals. On each loop off the leader you loop in a 7/0 or 8/0 treble hook. Now you have two trebles in a row with the sinker on the bottom of the leader. This accomplishes two things: first, the lead is no longer part of the hook and without that extra weight, you are less likely to tear or rig the flesh of the pogy causing it to free itself, two, you have two shots at snagging the fish instead of just one. I also like to crush down the barbs on the hooks so getting them off is easier once you get them to the boat. If you keep a tight line and steady pressure on the fish, you will land most of them and the damage to the fish will be less severe and they will last in your live-well a lot longer.

Once a pogy is hooked and brought to the boat, look to see how badly it is bleeding. If it is bleeding a lot, place it in a 5-gallon bucket of water to bleed-out first before you go and put it in your live-well. Nothing will kill a live-well full of pogy's as having the water full of blood. Pogy's have the natural ability to stop their bleeding in a very short time. The cleaner your live-well water is, the long they will live in it.

When you find a school of fish on the surface, you should cast beyond it as far as possible. Let your rig sink to the bottom before you begin the snagging process. A lot of anglers simply cast out their snag rig and immediately begin trying to snag their bait. The problem is most of the fish are below and deeper than your rig is getting. When you do this you only pull the rig above the fish and snag fewer fish and waste a lot of energy in the process. If you let your rig sink to the bottom and then reel up slowing, you will feel the fish bounce off of the line if the school is packed tight. That is the time to try snagging them. It's much more efficient and it saves time in getting your bait.

 For tackle I prefer using a rod that is made of fiberglass and not graphite. Why? Simply because the fiberglass rod has a lot of forgiveness to it and isn't as stiff as the graphite ones. That bit of give will help you land a lot more bait. Graphite has little or no give to it and the tendency is to try and get the bait to the boat as quick as possible. When you do this you run the risk of pulling the hook out of the bait. A fiberglass rod is much more practical for snagging those pogy's.

 In Rhode Island, the best time to find and fish pogies inside Narragansett Bay is in the spring time during the months of May and June. In some years the fishing will go on right throughout the summer but not usually. It takes an awful lot of menhaden to keep the fishery going for that long.

 When pogy's are the predominate baitfish and they are hard to come by, don't forget that there are many types of soft plastic's on the market today that are good imitations of menhaden and will work for you if you try them. Big plastic swim baits, big Fin-S Fish in the 10-inch size, the new hard bodied swim baits that have become so popular all over the country, especially in the freshwater fishery. These baits are just as effective in saltwater as they are in freshwater. So you have a wide range of lure to choose from.

When pogy's are available, they are going to give you the best chance of getting that monster sized striped bass that you've been looking for. The will work in shallow water as well as in deep water. So give them a try this year. Good luck and good fishing.

Captain Jim White